Process of treating earthy materials.



SR w. uuun c; ELLIS. PROCESS OF TREATING EABTHY MATERIALS. APPLICATION FILED FEB 25, 1911.

P afpented Aug. 1, 1911.

a SHEETS-#8113121 1.

W ITNESSES INVENTOR.

al \Ill IIUUII) G. ELLIS.

rnocnss or TREATING EABTHY MATERIALS.

APPLIOATIQN FILED FEB. 25, 19 11.

Patnted Aug. 1, 1911.

3 '$HEETSSEEET 2.

G. ELLIS. PEOGESS 0F TREATING BARTHY MATERIALS:

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25,1911.

I Patented Aug. 1,-1911.

3 sHBETs-sHnBi a m mw WITNESSES:

C-ARLETON ELLIS, or

MoNTcLAIB, NEW JERSEY, AssrGNon T ELLIS-FOSTER comment, A oonrona'rron or NEW JERSEY.

rnocnss or rnnarrrnc EARTHY MATERIALS,

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 1, 1911.

, Application filed February 25, 1911. Serial No. 610,705.

- "0 all whom it may concern:

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Montclair, in the county of Essex and new and useful Improvementsin Processes of Treating Earthy Materials, &c., of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a process of heating or igniting earthy materials, and in particular hydraulic cement materials and other products, erated heat. a

Methods have been proposed for burning cement, for example, by direct electric heat, such as that'for instance involving the for'- mation of the ordinary short are between two electrodes and the projection of the, raw cement material into contact with such an arc. For'practical reasons however, the burning of Portland cement in this manner M! is' attended with difliculty. Moreover the J handlinglofmaterials in such large qua-nti" ties as is necessarily involvedin the-manufacturing of a bulky commodity like Pertland cement, makes this method extremely diflicult, if not impractical to carry out.

The present invention involves the production of a long heating or radiating arc, which may be projected, for-example intoan ordinary rotary kiln for a very considerable distance, 'or even throu bout the entire lengthof a short rotary n, and which, vowin to its enormous temperature serves to rapi' y convert the raw cement materials" into Portland cement clinker, or to ignite other earthymaterials, such for example as pulverized phosphate rock. At-the same time, by contact of air with the flaming arc, oxidation of the nitrogen of the air occurs to a, considerable degree, resulting in the formation of oxids of nitrogen which may be converted into useful fertilizing materials, and this oirida-tion is further enhanced in the present, instance by suitably contacting the aircurrents while highly heated by the electric arc with the cement material or other earthy materials, so as to produce a catalytic e'fi'ec I z w t Ordinarilythearc produced bythe alternating current-{especially if the are is of considerable length, is extremely unsteady. and is rather easily blown out by extraneous currents of air,-or even by a fairly Be it known-that I, Cameron ELLIS, a

5 'State of New Jersey, have. invented certain-- by means of electrically gentudinal'ly of the are. If however, air is pr03ected around the arc tangentially, or so as to form a spiral current encircling the are, the said are may be rendered steady and may be extended to a loss of stability. In the present practice of burning Portland cement, a rotary kiln is employed and usually powdered coal is used as a fuel, forming a flame which travels along the 'axis of the kilnaccording to usual practice, and which serves to both calcine and clinker the cement material. Clinkering requires a very-hightemperat-ure while calcining requires no great amount of heat. Clinkeringrequlres no greatamount of air, so far as the action of thelatter on the mate- .rial is concerned, while calcining calls fora considerable amount of air, in order tocarry away the carbon dioxid evolved from the material. It-is no't necessary in the- 5 present invention to conduetcalcination and "cIin-kering in the'same kiln or scctio n as the i operation may often be more conveniently conducted intwo stages. Calcination for 130 example. may be conducted in an ordinary shaft kiln, fired with coal. or in a rotary kiln fired by reducer-gas or powdered-coal. -Under such c rcumstances elinkering of the calcines may be carriedeon by electrical heat, preferably applying this etlieient heat-. ing agent to the hot calcines. Or the'hot gases from the clinkering apparatus may be used for partial calcination. It is, on the operations separately, as the character of the reaction in the two cases is ditferent. Calcination as stated, preferably calls for prolonged heat treatment, with what is known as a soakingheat, owing to the grad- 5 ual elimination of the carbon dioxid, which is a reaction of an endothermic character by nature. Cli'nkering is probably exothermic'by nature and simply requires momena the materials up to the critical or clinkering temperature.

In carrying out my process, raw materials containing potash may be used, so that in the very high temperature zone of electrical 105 heat the operation of clinkering this potash may be more or less expelled from the material and recovered as a valuable inanurial material., A great many siliciousmaterials 55 well regulated air current, traveling longiemployed in the manufacture of Portland 119' great length without whole, rather desirable to carry on the two tarily, as it were, a very intense heat to bring 6 I i advantageous from a point of view of improving-the quality of the Portland cement. Although the alkalis occur in relatlvely small amounts in ordinary cement rock,

owing to the very large quantities of cement raw materials, which are manufactured into Portland cement, the quantity of potash that could be recovered is large in amount. The use of silicious materials carrying large proportions of potash also is possible, as for example feldspa-r, glauconite, potash mica and the like.

As previously stated, the passage of air through the electrically heated clinkering zone in more or less contact with the incandescent clinker, permits of, such catalytic action that the oxidation of the nitrogen of the air is rendered rapid and effective and the oxids of nitrogen which are formed may be recovered by treatment with an absorbing agent, suchas milk of lime and the lke,

' to form nitrates, or nitrites suitable for ertilizin purposes. p p

, In t e accompanying drawings, which are of a'diagrammatic character, Figure 1 shows partly 1n elevation and partly in section, apparatus for calcining the cement raw material, and electrical means for clinkering it. Fig. 2 shows in elevation the arrangement of apparatus adopted for the same purpose,

involving rotary kilns for both calcination and clinkering. Egg. 3 shows anelevation of the calcining an clinkering kiln wherein the electrically generated heat in the clinker ing section is used jor calcination. Fig. 4 shows the location 915 the two kilns of 3 with respect to each other.

In the several characters, like characters denote like parts. 4 In the drawings, 1 is a shaft kiln in which lime stone or cement rock may be calcined to remove carbon dioxid moisture andthe like.

' the hood, 12, at the lower end. The convever, 13, serves to deliver the material from the bin 9, to the rotary section 10. An electrode 14, is placed in the hood 12, and a secend terminal 15, is located in the housing 11. A pipe, 16, serves to introduce air into the section 10, and this is preferably arranged so asto deliver the air spirally about the are formed between the electrodes 14:

and 15. While only one jet is hereshown,

for the sake of simplicity, it is to be understood that a plurality of such .jets may be used. Adjacent to the kiln, is a magnet, 17,

which may be used to deflect the are formed between electrodes 14 and 15, to such an extent as may be desired. An extension of the equipped with batfies, 19, serving to collect the dust, or sublimate of potash or other alkalis.. Outlets, 24, into the conveyer, 22, serve to carry these potash concentrates to the leaching. chamber 25, where water ma be used for the extraction of the potas or it may be treated in other ways accord ing to circumstances. Outlet .pipe, 26, equipped with a pump, or-blower,h27, connects the dust chamber 18,'with. the absorption tower, 28. The latter has an outlet, 9, for the escape of the washed gases, and the inlet, 30, and outlet, 31, for the absorbing the aforesaid are preferably should bens'ed,

and this for commercial reasons ordinarily may be a three phase system. Three on housing 11, forms a dust chamber, 18,-

more arcs may be arranged to work on the.

, three phases of such asystem, with the kihr connecting with a neutral junction. With a kiln about twenty feet long and about twenty inches in diameter a current of -from 200 to 300 amperes at 4,000 to-(i,000 volts may be used. With kilns of larger cross section, correspondingly greater currents and potentials may be used. The-length of the kiln largely determines. the voltage necessary to strike the requisite arc, while amperage is adjusted in accordance with the heating-eiiect required. lVith a? small body of'rnaterial in the rotary kiln the amperage should be considerably less than.when treating a heavy charge of material. The calcincd material, mixed with suflicient silicious material to make the proper raw composition for Portland cement is'entered into the clinkering section 10 and subjected to the enormous heat of the electric are. In

order to protect the liningof the kiln as much as possible, the section may be rotated at highspeed so as to carry "the material high up on the side of the kiln which is ascending and by the application of the cler trode magnet the arc may be deducted at one wholesome into more or less contact with the clinkering material and away from the exposed (lining on the opposite side.

The clinkered product is removed at the tower. The waste gases leave at the outlet 29. If desired the alkaline concentrates from the chamber 25 may be conveyed to the absorption tower 28, so as to form' a nitrate or nitrite of potash which is excellent i fairly heavy charge of the cement material fertilizing material. 1

In F ig. 2,1 is a rotary calcining section, having the producer gas inlet 32, and the air .inlet 33. 34: is a gas producer supplyin the section 1, and the waSte gases from this section are taken to an evaporating point 35, whichis used to evaporate'the nitrogenous or potas'sic liquors. The clinkering section is electrically heated, the terminals not being shown in this case. Section 10 has a housing 11, at its upper end and a hood 12, at the lower end. A chute 13, conveys the calcines from section 1, to

section 10. 16 is an air inlet into section 10. 20 is a chute permitting the discharge of clinker into the clinker receptacle or cooler, 21. A dust chamber is shown at 18,

having the conveyer 22, an outlet for the dust or otash concentrations, 23. A 1pc,

26, and lower, 27, onvey the gases rom the clinkering section, to the absorption tower 28, as indicated in Fig. 1. In the operation of this apparatus the raw material is calcined in section 1, using producer gas derived from the producer 34:. The material is electrically clinkered in section 10 and the other operations are carried out as indicated in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 3, the electric are generated between the terminals 14; and 15, serve to clinker the calcines, which are produced in section 1, by the waste heat from the arc in section 10. The waste gases may be withdrawn and the nitrates and nitrites removed and if desired, .the carbon dioxids from the calcines may be separately recov ered; the'stages of the operation not being depicted here, but being substantially similar to the operations as described in Figs.

1- and 2. In Fig. 3, the receptacle 27 may be used either'to hold clinkers in a granular condition in which they may be cooled and the air used for cooling, may if desired, be introduced by the pipe 16, so that preheated air is supplied to the are between terminals 14 and 15. The connections necessary for carrying this detail of the operation out are not shown here but are obvious from'the foregoing description. The receptacle 37 may serve another purpose in that the operation of the kiln may be so conducted that the clinker is elivereddnto the receptacle 3? in a-n oltcondition, fiom which it may be-diseliarged by spout 38 and meet with a current of air, steam or inert gases, issuing from jet 39, whereby the clinker becomes finely divided and reduced to such a condition that the final grinding of the product is very simply and cheaply done.

In the operation-of the clinkering section, it is usually necessary to admit. only suiticient air to give stability to the are and produce the maximum of oxid of nitrogen. Owing to the very high temperature which may be secured in the clinkering kiln a should be introduced, and, as'stated,.the kiln should be rather rapidly rotated, preferably in the direction of the spiral current of, air

produced by the stabilizing currents of air.

If desired, the kiln may be lined .with raphitized fire brick,so as to furnish a coneither be started more easily, or if desired,

ucting medium in order that the arc may 'may be caused'to terminate not in the hood dinarilydo not obtain in the ordinary coalfired kiln, where an enormous amount of air is used for combustion and this gives rise to a tremendous loss of heat through the sensi- "ble heat carried away in the escaping gases.

Instead of manufacturing Portland ce-' ment in this apparatus, other materials may be ignited or heat treated, such for example as calcium phosphate, ordinary phosphateof lime which in its natural state, is not readily available for fertilizing, and requires treatment with sulfuric acid, and, the like.

By heating suc'liphosphate rock to the very high temperature of the electric arc, the phosphorus isrendered more available, especially if produced in a fused condition, by the addition of a flux,.such as feldspar,.with subsequent atomization of the fused phosnited with sulfate of magnesia, j calcium chlorid, quick lime, or othercagents, which senve to disintegrate it, using it necessary, nx such as feldspar or glauconitc, thereby making possible the simultaneous production of nitrogen, potash and phosphorus in a form available for fertilizing purposes, the waste heat of the apparatus serving conveniently to dry out the extracts containing soluble potash, nitrates and the like.

Having described my invention, tothe dephate. -'Or the phosphate rock may be igtails of which I do not wish to be limited, what. I claim is 1. The process of treating earthy material which consists in heating it to a high temperature in the heating zone of an electric arc in the presence of air, in withdrawing said earthy material and air and removing from the latter its oxid of nitrogen.

2. Process of treating earthy material which consists of heating said material to a high temperature in the heating zone of an electric arc in the presence of air and: allowing said air to contactwith said earthy material, whereby catalytic action resulting in the acceleration of the oxidation of the nitrogen of said air is brought about, in withdrawing said earthy material and air and removing from the latter its oxids of nitroen g 3. The process of treating earthy material containing potash which consists in heating the material to a high temperature in'theheating zone of a flaming electric arc in the presence of a'ir,'in withdrawing said earthy material and air and'in removing from the 4. The-process of treating cement-forming material which consists in heating the material to ahigh temperature in the heating zone of an electric arc in the presence of air,

in withdrawing the cement material in a chukered conditlon, in removing air and dust and in separating oxid of nitrogen from said air.

5. The process of treating previously-calcined cement material, which consists of heating it to a high temperature in the heating zone of an elongated electric arc in the presence of air, in withdrawing the cement material when clinkered, in removing the dust and air and in separately absorbing the oxid of nitrogen contained in said air.

6. The process of treating cement material which consists in calcining the material, in

heating it to a high temperature in the heat-- mg zone of an electric arc in. the presence of air, in withdrawing the cement material when elinkcred, near one extremity of the electric arc and in removing the air and dust from-a point near the opposite extremity of the arc, in freeing the dust from potash and the air from its oxitls of nitrogen.

7. The process of treatlng Portland cement material containing potash which con-.

sists in heating it to a high temperature while traveling in a. stream in the heating zone of an elongated electric arc, in introducing air spirally around said are, whereby the latter is stabilized, in withdrawing the cement material when clinkered, in collecting the dust and air, in removing the potthe air. r

8. The process of treating'earthy material, which consists in passing it through the ash from the dust and oxid of nitrogen from heat zone of an. elongated electric arc, in

passing airspirally about said are whereby the latter. is stabilized, in causing the air currents to contact with the earthy material in an incandescent condition whereby nitrogen is oxidized by catalytic action, in removing the earthy material at a point near one extremity of the are and removing air anddust from a point near the opposite extremity of the arc and in recovering oxid of nitrogen from the air.

9. The process of treating earthy material containing potash, which consists in passing it through a heated zone of an elongated electric arc, in passing air spirally about said are whereby the latter is stabilized, in cansmaterial in an incandescent condition whereby nitrogen is oxidized by catalyticaction, in removing the earthy materials at a point near one extremity of the are, in removing the air and dustfrom a point near the opposite extremity of the arc, in recovering the oxid of nitrogen from the air and potash from the dust.

10. In the process of treating earthy -ma-- terials, the subnrocess which consists in sentially oxygen and nitrogen. to an electric arc, in the presence of a ditticultly-fusible mineral catalyzer having a' highly roughened surface"; and in maintaining said gaseous mixture within thehigh-temperature zone of said are and in frequenteontact with said catalyzer, all for a sensible period; whereby a portion of the said oxygen and nitrogen enter into combination.

11. In the process of treating earthy materials. the subprocess which consists in subjecting a gaseous mixture, comprising essentially oxygen and nitrogen. to an electric arc in the presence of a dittieultlr-tusible mineral eatalyzer. having a highl roughened surface, in maintaining said eatalyzer in constant agitation; and in unpelhng said gaseous mixture through the high-temperature zone of said are, and in frequent contact with said catalyzer, all for a sensible period; whereby a portion of the said oxygen and-nitrogen enters into combination.

Signed at Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey this 14th day of February A. D. 1911.

CARLETON ELLIS;

lVitnesses:

- 8. M. Srnnon,

B. M. ELLIS.

mg an air current to contact with the earthy 

